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Flora van Brink Hony Bader, 1977

Flora van Brink Hony Bader (nee Melkman) and grandson David celebrating Hanukkah. View the original source document: WHI 56425

Flora van Brink Hony Bader was a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust who settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after World War II.

Flora van Brink Hony Bader (nee Melkman) was born in Amsterdam, Holland, on June 20, 1919. She was the oldest daughter in a well-to-do Dutch family. When the Germans occupied Holland in May 1940, the Melkmans witnessed increasingly anti-Jewish legislation.

In January 1943, the family realized it was only a matter of time before they would become victims of the Nazis. The 24-year-old Flora and her husband of two years, Israel van Brink, went into hiding with Flora's sister. Both Israel and Flora's sister were betrayed by Dutch Nazis, arrested, and eventually killed. Flora took refuge in the home of a Dutch Underground member. After the member was betrayed and deported, Flora moved through the homes of several Dutch Underground members until the Allied liberation in May 1945.

After the war, Flora was the only survivor in her family. She joined her mother-in-law in Amsterdam and they took many survivors into their home. One of those was Josef Hony, who had survived Auschwitz. The two married in 1946. In 1954 they immigrated to the U.S. with their only child and settled in Milwaukee. Both Flora and Josef worked at Gimbels department store. After Josef's death in 1967, Flora married Aron Bader in 1968. He died in 1979. Flora died in September 1997.

Flora Bader, Oral History Interview

Flora's Testimony

Listen to Flora Bader tell her story to the Wisconsin Historical Society interviewer. 

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Oral Histories: Wisconsin Survivors of the Holocaust

Hear the stories of 22 Holocaust Survivors and two American witnesses interviewed between 1974 and 1981.